Recruiting Benchmarks Don’t Exist…Here’s Why
One out of every 10 agents you interview should join your company on the spot.
It takes three appointments and one to two weeks to hire an agent.
You should hire 20% of the agents you interview.
Those are just three of the many recruiting benchmarks I’ve heard over the last few months.
But you know what?
Recruiting benchmarks don’t exist.
See, a benchmark is an objective standard you can compare yourself against. And if you look again at the three “benchmarks” above, you’ll find they fail as points of comparison.
For example, none of them address the experience or production levels of the agents.
That’s a huge issue.
A broker who recruits a lot of new and unproductive agents is going to have VASTLY different numbers than a broker who only recruits agents doing $2 million or more in volume.
And what about the sources of the appointments?
A broker who interviews 10 agents who were referred to him might hire seven or eight of those agents. But, that same broker might only hire two or three agents out of 10 when the appointments come from cold calls.
Recruiting benchmarks don’t exist because there are too many factors like those that affect the numbers:
The market share of the brokerage
The number of direct competitors
The reputation of the brokerage’s owners, managers, and staff
The number of existing agents at the brokerage
The number and locations of the offices the brokerage operates
The size of the market
And that’s just a small sampling of factors. I could easily give you another 20.
Now at this point, you might be asking yourself, “If benchmarks don’t exist, how do I gauge the results of my recruiting program?”
A couple ways.
First, you can benchmark against yourself.
Track your numbers for a year and use them as a point of comparison for future years.
Second, you can focus on improving your recruiting process.
Refine your prospecting and marketing so you get more appointments. Build your sales skills so you convert on a higher percentage of your appointments.
If you track your numbers and improve your process, you’ll need fewer appointments to hire more agents.
And isn’t that really the goal anyway?
P.S. – While there aren’t any recruiting benchmarks, there are some good “rules of thumb” you can use (these apply to productive agents):
The busy season and summer months are the most difficult times to hire agents and you can expect a longer courting process during those months
The easiest months to hire agents are December, January, and February
Don’t expect to hire an agent during the first appointment unless the agent asked you for the meeting
The easiest agents to hire are those your existing agents refer to you (this is why I emphasize asking for referrals)
Roughly 20% of the agents in your market will switch companies in any given year
The longer an agent has been with her current company, the harder she is to recruit
Agents are most likely to switch at natural “decision points” (beginning of a month, after a vacation, after a holiday) so time your meetings and follow-up accordingly
